Elon Musk is a ‘malign influence’, John Swinney says

Scotland’s First Minister said he is “giving thought” to his use of the social media platform X, as he branded its billionaire owner Elon Musk a “malign influence”.

John Swinney condemned the X and Tesla chief following his appearance at the Unite the Kingdom march and rally in London this weekend – where 25 people were arrested and 26 police officers were injured, with four seriously hurt.

The SNP leader accused Mr Musk of “stirring up tension and animosity in our society”, saying: “I think it is reprehensible what he is doing.”

He claimed that political debate was being “stirred up by people like Elon Musk and some of the characters that were attacking police officers and attacking members of the public on the streets of London during the weekend”.

Mr Swinney condemned that behaviour as “far-right thuggery”, as he said he was “certainly giving thought” over his continued use of X – the social media platform formerly known as Twitter which was bought by Mr Musk in 2022.

The First Minister was unclear whether he was referring to his personal account, or to the Scottish Government’s use of the platform.

But speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme he insisted: “I think we have got to take a stand on the behaviour of some of these individuals.

“I have been around long enough to know and to have seen examples in the past where far-right thuggery makes its presence felt on the streets of the United Kingdom.

“I saw it when I was a teenager, I didn’t like it, I loathed it when I saw it when I was a teenager and I loathe it now as First Minister of Scotland.

“There were people at that march who were attacking police officers, so that’s far-right thuggery in my book.”

Pressed over whether he or the Scottish Government could come off X, Mr Swinney said: “I have thought about these issues before and in light of the different events that have taken their course and particularly the intervention of Elon Musk, I am thinking about it again.”

However he added it was “not a simple argument”, saying that the government has “obviously got to look at ways to communicate our message”.

Mr Swinney has more than 116,000 followers on X, and used the platform on Monday to highlight his government’s efforts to bring in a furlough scheme to help protect jobs at bus builders Alexander Dennis in Falkirk.

The SNP leader added: “I obviously don’t want to just leave the field barren for people like Elon Musk to dominate the communication with individuals around our country, I have got to think about how we get our message across.”

But he continued: “What people need to understand from their First Minister is I will have nothing to do with the type of prejudice that has been put around by Elon Musk, Nigel Farage and others.

“What I will do is give the leadership to make sure that Scotland is a welcoming country, that we welcome people to come here to seek refuge, and we do all that we can to improve the lives and the livelihoods of people in our country.”

Mr Musk had previously been involved in a social media spat with Mr Swinney’s predecessor, former first minister Humza Yousaf.